A helping hand to a fellow member

[Achto 26,505]

In a very heart felt PM @12Horse Paladin contacted me about helping him out with a Bronco 14 that he needed help with. I would have rather helped him fix the tractor but a 2 hour travel time between us made it difficult to just be a helping hand. Instead the decision was made that I would pick the tractor up and work on it at my place. @WHX24 and I made a trip to pick the tractor up. Here is a picture of the Bronco as it was when we picked it up.

 

After evaluating the Bronco we realized that it had a few more issues than was expected. Knowing that we would be working with a budget Jim & I decided to reach out to see if others may have some extra parts to help bring this back to life for Jason. A special thank you to @A-Z Tractor, @dclarke, @ebinmaine, @stevasaurus, @Vinylguy, @wheelhorseman for helping Jim & I make this happen for Jason.

 

Here are some of the hurtles that we encountered. First off the axle key ways were damaged and of course the hubs were trashed.

 

The hubs were replaced and the axles were repaired.

 

After the trans-axle was fully repaired and ready for service attention was was given to sheet metal repairs. There were multiple damaged pieces, with the repairs that were needed it made sense to extend repairs to a repaint as well.

 

More pictures and the unveiling of the tractor to Jason yet to come.

 

 

[ebinmaine 62,970]

Glad to help and lookin forward to seeing more pics!!!!

[953 nut 51,535]

You guys are the best!               

[WHX?? 46,694]

Kinda looks like a unveiling Dan like we know some other A did ... string this out for weeks and keep these  on the edge.  I'll just sit here and clam up till it comes time for attachments. EB shut up. 

[Achto 26,505]

21 minutes ago, WHX24 said:

Kinda looks like a unveiling Dan like we know some other A did ... string this out for weeks and keep these  on the edge

 

 I'll be posting more tonight, just have to step away and make some thing to throw down my throat.

Edited May 17, 2020 by Achto

[Mows4three 825]

2 minutes ago, WHX24 said:

EB shut up.

 

Ah, yeah.   Like you REALLY think you can get him to zip it?  

 

You need TRINA to bring the heat for that to happen!

 

LOL ... !

 

dave

[WHX?? 46,694]

He pretty much do's what we tell him Dave...  I'll chime in with my version of the whole ordeal when Dan is done......it was actually quite edumacatling for me anyway... bout time I broaden my horizons anyway... 

Edited May 17, 2020 by WHX24

[wallfish 15,909]

Not just restoring tractors, restoring faith in humanity as well

[Achto 26,505]

A good looking tractor with a good transmission and a good engine still needs to handle well. The tie rods were in poor shape so to repair them I chose to turn the original tie rods down and fit them with replaceable ends.

 

 

 

Some final body work to be done on the sheet metal.

 

After blowing some paint around a little assembly work.

 

On to getting the implements ready. The dozer blade was my job, Jim took on the mower deck. To start with the A-frame was not exactly correct for the tractor so some alterations were required. First of all a PO made an addition to the A-frame to convert it from a short to a long frame set up. Issue... they stopped short of where they needed to be. When the plow was pivoted it would hit the  front tires.

 

I removed the addition that a PO welded on and added on a more suitable addition.

 

Unhappy with where the pivot handle ended up after the addition, alterations were done to make thing fit better as well as be more comfortable for the operator.

 

The plow after it was finished and fitted to the tractor.

 

I did some work on the mower deck. A little welding to take care of some worn out parts.

 

 

Weld up some over sized holes so they could be made the correct size.

 

The rest of the deck was up to Jim @WHX24. I'll let him give a take on that.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 17, 2020 by Achto

[12Horse Paladin 1,038]

Im not gonna say much here, tonight. Ill be startin aother thread tho, prolly tomorro, to say/add more.

Been a long day n just got in from the garage again; rearanging the garage to fit everything.

Will say i was speechless for a good bit after 9am, at 1st....and thats not something i am, often. 

You...guys, gals...all of you...

Are amazing.

Shoot, im choking up typing this...so all add more later; close withb1 pic of my own, for now.

Thankyou Dan; Jim...All of you!😊❤

[Pullstart 59,559]

Amazing work, unbelievable (plenty believable actually!) story unfolding!  You guys are awesome!  Great work so far and unlike Dan’s bleed me out unveiling, I’ll sit patiently waiting for more updates on this one 

[rjg854 10,708]

Great job to all those involved, members are the best  

[SylvanLakeWH 24,093]

Wow!

 

[WHX?? 46,694]

To say this tractor needed some love is an understatement. Lots of PO cobblements and lots of just plain old worn out. Just getting it on a trailer without the wheels falling off was a job. 

The good news is both Dan and I could see a diamond in the rough. The motor started and ran good with no smoke. And the hydro seemed strong. After getting it home and into another mafia member's shop and after a bit of head scratching. Dove into it. I took custody. Of the transmission parts whIle Dan comenced to whittling in some full length keyways on th axles. A quick call to Lowell and bearings, gaskets and new HY hoses were on their way. As with most projects clean up is the worse part. One day Dan and I were brousing Fleet Farm we stumbled on some farm paint in IH red at a very reasonable price. Here we go full paint. It was our orginal intent to just stay mechanical but figured this far apart might as well go whole hog.

 

A fine selection of gently used hubs to choose from thanks to other members here.

 

Edited May 17, 2020 by WHX24

[WHX?? 46,694]

Dan did most of the assembly with me ther just a couple of times to get in his way and add wise cracks.  He also did all new custom wiring all soldered and shrink wrapped. It was fun tractor hopping with a bro who was putting a simplecity together. 

Edited May 17, 2020 by WHX24
Speeling

[dclarke 4,011]

That project turned out awesome! Great story and great work guys! 

[Achto 26,505]

Last weekend was final fit & finish day. I hauled the tractor over to Jim's so that we could do final fit of the implements. First we installed the plow and made sure that my cable set up for tripping the pivot release would work.

 

Then we removed the plow and fitted the mower deck. While doing this we discovered that we had a damaged belt tensioner. Lucky for us Jim had the part that we needed in stock. I may be jumping the gun on the deck as I'm sure Jim has some pictures to share with the work that he did (and of course we want to see them, as well as hear about the decisions that were made about the deck) but here it is mounted on the tractor.

 

After we had every thing fitted, Jim loaded the tractor & implements into his enclosed trailer.

Yesterday was delivery day. Jim, Cindy, our friend Joel & I loaded up in the truck and headed to Manitowoc. I had stopped sending Jason update pictures of the Bronco towards the end of the assembly process, as I wanted him to see it first hand when it was finished.

 

On arrival Jason was quite anxious to see his Bronco again. When I finally drove it out of the trailer he was pretty much speechless. Jim & Cindy were running cameras so I hope they have some good pic's of that event to share with us. I managed to get a couple of pictures.

 

Jason taking his first cruise on his rehabilitated Bronco.

 

Taking it all in.

 

Jason with the "Mafia" delivery crew.

 

I wish more of the people who helped on this project could have been there for delivery day. We had a good time with Jason, we helped him switch implements around so that he had some first hand experience with them. Jason is a great guy & I really hope he enjoys his Bronco every time he uses it. To give thanks to those that helped on this project and to let Jason know how our community can work together I asked Terry to make up a decal to place on the inside of the hood. The names in each group are in alphabetical order as each one was equally important. Thanks Guys!!

   

Edited May 17, 2020 by Achto

[WHX?? 46,694]

The deck...

It had a orginal '71 vintage 42" deck but after looking at it we decided to go with a '67 RL-486 that I had that was in a bit better shape rust wise. We could have saved the orginal deck and certainly will not scrap it.

I have a soft spot for these early side mule drive decks as that's what I used to mow with for years. 

 

[Tractorhead 8,577]

What a fantastic surprise for Jason,

i take my Hat off to everyone involved for that Beauty.

 

 

You Guy‘s are the Best !

 

 

[ronwh 180]

Fantastic job guys.  ❤️❤️❤️

[stevasaurus 22,229]

You guys actually pulled it off!!!!  Incredible job and the pictures are fantastic.  Red Square really is the best site on the net.  

[chex313 123]

You folks are the Greatest

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,027]

@Achtoand @WHX24 I thought you two were a couple of clowns that came to the BS to strip parts off of tractors. You guys and the rest of the crew did an fabulous job on the tractor. I am sure it will last for many years.  

[WHX?? 46,694]

17 hours ago, elcamino/wheelhorse said:

@Achtoand @WHX24 I thought you two were a couple of clowns that came to the BS to strip parts off of tractors.

Don't  worry....ain't nothing changed about that!

Edited May 18, 2020 by WHX24

[Sam Pasch 449]

That thing is looking good now thanks to you guys. This really is a great supportive site!